I have found the wheel size to be different with the 70 ton having a little larger wheels. The gearing is the same. I have replaced the wheels/ gears with the Northwest Shortline ones, which will work with the 70 tonners, 44 tonners, dual motor, and even the newer 70 ton with DCC on board. The wheel sets are not cheap, and will require disassembly of the truck on the dual motor trucks, or removing the bottom plate on the DCC ones.

  Annual arrived yesterday, getting comfortable to have a read through, lots of interesting articles to go through.

  "Professor Fakes Rocket Sled" should! show up today, will need to take a look at a drive for it. Not likely?    to be found on planned diorama.

   Have a couple of nature sound CD's I usually listen to when working on the layout or modelling.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on May 07, 2024, 11:41:56 PMTootally once again making a post about the fuel tanker and lighthouse. I am going to ask them directly about it because it could just be a weird caption but seems likely production of these has stopped and that word is going out to manufacturers now and will officially be removed from the catalog the following year. A weird decision if so but it's not like they only make discontinuation decisions twice a year. Assuming this is in fact true this could be a useful tool to get a jump on discontinuation info rather than having to wait for a catalog drop. Will keep you all updated based on how they reply

Yep they elaborated, actually publicly to someone else rather than just my dm but the answer is the same. They are items at close out prices because Bachmann is trying to get rid of them, they don't do sales like this unless an item is discontinued. Seems odd again they waited 3 months after the catalog dropped to do something like this but again, suppose Bachmann doesn't just make product discontinuation decisions once a year. Hopefully this means these are the only things on the way out next catalog and we won't lose anything else.

Tootally once again making a post about the fuel tanker and lighthouse. I am going to ask them directly about it because it could just be a weird caption but seems likely production of these has stopped and that word is going out to manufacturers now and will officially be removed from the catalog the following year. A weird decision if so but it's not like they only make discontinuation decisions twice a year. Assuming this is in fact true this could be a useful tool to get a jump on discontinuation info rather than having to wait for a catalog drop. Will keep you all updated based on how they reply

At last, we finally get to see HO Scale Rebecca fully painted. Beau is expected to arrive in stock by the end of June. N Scale Gordon has been pushed back to October, most likely so that there's not so much of a gap between him and the N Scale Express Coaches, which they have made progress on. It was N Scale Diesel and Paxton that hadn't been started on at the time the catalog was released. N Scale Emily, as well as her coaches and her set, are expected to arrive in November, if nothing goes wrong. They're still waiting on the first unpainted samples of HO Scale Stanley and Sir Handel, which there has been good progress on those. We might see them within the next few months.

There are currently no big plans for the 80th Anniversary next year at this time because they are still catching up on lots of products that haven't been released yet. They just recently revealed N Scale Henrietta fully painted, and her having a face had very mixed reactions. Some were okay with it, but I've seen many who were quite disappointed, all because she didn't have a face in the model series. It made perfect sense for Henrietta to have a face, so that she could better interact with Toby. Hannah can be made using the same tooling. Lots of products are supposed to arrive in stock this year, and maybe we'll get some big surprises in the 2025 catalog.

I think even without the cab detailing she is a very impressive model... The separately fitted details such as the brake rigging and stepladders are outstanding... Her molded and painted details as well are very crisp and nice to look at... She by far the most intricate and well-put-together models Bachmann have ever made for "Thomas". If I were still invested in modelling HO Scale I would definitely place a pre-order for her, but I suppose I'll just have to wait whenever they bring her to N Scale, ha ha.

Thinking seriously about that for a moment... If Bachmann follows through with Henry and Edward announcements in 2024 and 2025 respectively... then brings out popular smaller engine picks like Duck and Mavis in 2026 and 2027... I suppose 2028 would be the prime time for an N Scale Rebecca announcement? I'd better start saving up, ha ha ha!

After seeing Rebecca wow she looks amazing however I do think she needs a cab interior And definitely will try to add one to mine . Overall, an amazing model Can't wait to pick her up sometime next year

A murky term that's become more so in recent times.

Not really. The info given in the example was standard given to the dispatcher. The consist part referred specifically to the locomotives on the head end. If they were not running, they were "dead in consist" as opposed to "dead in train" which referred to a locomotive being moved in the train, but not on the head end The difference was crucial. DIC locomotives could conceivably be restarted if the need for more power arose, and controlled from the leader. DIT locomotives were pretty much useless, and were just along for the ride. Other than their extreme weight, DIT locomotives were just another car in the train. There were also union agreements where engineers were paid by the total weight of the locomotive. I'm pretty sure that included all locomotives MUed together, regardless of whether they were running or not, since they could be restarted if necessary. Perhaps the longer term power consist should be used, which was another term I heard often.

Quote from: Ralph S on May 03, 2024, 08:32:18 PMThis brings up a question.  The Bachmann (Model 36508) EZ Command Dynamis Wireless DCC System can handle multiple addresses?  That is, be programmed with long addresses?  Also the Dynamis also can program/control the multiple CV's like other manufacturers.

Inquiring minds would like to know are there any Dynamis users out there?

I believe the answer is yes to both questions.